I assume that those who paticipate on this and other related threads will watch or listen to Obama's speech tonight. I'll hold anymore of my own comments about this issue until after that.

Ken

I don't know if I will, Ken. I don't find him to be a very dynamic speaker and the speeches vex my patience. I'll probably get the highlights afterwards; they seem to spend around seven hours analyzing presidential speeches on cable news.

Welle, I frankly can't stand him, and that feeling has gotten worse as his administration has proggressed. But he's the president, so I'll force myself to watch so that when I see the various sound bites and media reports I'll at least have the ability to agree or disaggree with whichever pundit is punditifying.

I'll try to watch comments on FOX, MSNBC and CNN...but also BBC and some French and German media since I speak both langauges. By tomorrow afternoon I expect to have a fair idea of what various interest groups think.

Also, reading the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, and France Soir and Der Speigel, and competing Brit papes like the Guardian and Telegraph will be interesting. A nice thing about being mostly retired (I only have one class to teach this semester) is that I have the time to do the above.

I know that the two positions - yours and mine - on Libya will not be reconciled on this thread. I will acknowledge that you may be right about some mainstream liberals not asking for Bush/Cheney's head if the action were truly seen as a humanitarian issue (as you seem still to believe it is).

Aarroot, I suspect that there is very little upon which you and I would agree, but I do agree with you that mainstream liberals would be screaming (and rightly so) for Bush/Cheney's heads if this were aggression in Libya were their doing.

On Syria: I believe that might be one which will trigger action, though certainly not for the reasons which will be claimed. Let me come back with a short video.

As far as Syria is concerned, it is pretty much common knowledge that we simply cannot solve all problems in all areas at all times, so some selection process logically is in order as it always has been with every President/Congress. And one factor that has been different with Libya is Khadhafy's statement about a bloodbath, plus the willingness to form a coalition that we didn't precipitate.

You grabbed my quote to Aarroot before I came back to it with the video. Did you go back and watch it after I came back and posted it? Please do; it features General Wesley Clarke, back in 2007, disclosing the plan which had been told to him ...the plan to take seven countries out in five years. Both Libya and Syria were on that list of the seven.

A little bit in other languages is OK, but please also translate for everyone else, dear Welle.

And my German isn't bad but my French is better.

And excellent point about 'slobs' on FOX and MSNBC trashing one another...they do, do that.

Ken

I can't believe somebody is inspiring me to write in French again !! But I just mean emails to you in your moderator capacity (as in, when there's an issue with one of my posts). Thus, luckily I won't have to translate what I write for anybody else ...because I might not be able to do that !